you seen Matthew and Mark this morning? Are they able to sit their saddle?”
“Barely. They’re riding alongside the wagon.”
“Will they be any use to us anytime soon? What do they look like?”
Bob chuckled. “Their eyes look like two pee holes in a snowbank,” he said. “I guess they’ll come around by noon. But right now the poor bastards don’t have an idea of what’s going on around them, except they’re feeling pretty sick.”
“I’ve never seen anyone drink that much,” James said. “I thought they were taking all that whiskey to sell. I’m beginning to think now that if we had kept it, they would’ve drunk it all.”
“I don’t doubt it,” Bob said.
“How are you doing?” James asked.
“What do you mean, how am I doing?”
James laughed. “I admit you didn’t drink much last night, but for you, it doesn’t take much. As long as I’ve known you, you haven’t been able to hold your liquor. The smell of a cork could make you drunk. To tell the truth, I wasn’t sure you’d answer the call this morning.”
“Hey, you don’t need to be worryin’ any about me, James Cason,” Bob replied. “When the tocsin sounds, I will respond.”
James laughed. “You are full of it,” he said. He pointed to the head of the herd. “All right, the tocsin is sounding now. Go.”
Bob slapped his legs against the side of his horse and urged it into a gallop, dashing alongside the slowly moving herd until he was in the flank position, which was near the front, on the right-hand side. James rode up the side of a small hill, then looked back down on the Golden Calf Cattle Company. It made an impressive sight, over three thousand head of longhorns, five abreast and over a mile long, moving slowly but inexorably across the South Texas plain. From his position he could see the entire herd. Billy Swan was the flank rider on the left side, near the front, and Duke Faglier was on the same side, riding in the swing position, or near the rear. John was riding swing on the right and Luke was riding drag, bringing up the rear. The wagon was already a mile ahead of the herd, with Revelation sitting straight in the driver’s seat. Alongside the wagon, with their horses tethered to the vehicle, the two older Scattergoods, Matthew and Mark, sat weaving in their saddles.
James had read once that any journey of a thousand miles must start with a single step. This was that step.
It was two weeks after James and the others left San Antonio when the Butrum brothers arrived. They didn’t even have to ask around to find Duke Faglier. They overheard his name when they were unsaddling their horses at the livery.
“Pardon me,” Angus said to the two men who were talking. “Did I just hear you say the name Faglier?”
“My name is Thornton,” the liveryman said. “I own this place.”
“The name I’m interested in is Faglier. Duke Faglier,” Angus said. “Didn’t I just hear one of you just say that name?”
“What’s it to you, mister?” Thornton asked.
“We’re the Goodsons, from Missouri,” Angus lied. “Duke Faglier is our cousin and we been alookin’ for ’im.”
Thornton smiled broadly. “Cousins, eh? Well, why didn’t you say you was kin? I knew Duke was from Missouri, but that’s about all I knew. Duke never talked much ’bout his past. Truth is, don’t nobody around here know too much about him. But he was a good worker while he was here, and never give anybody any trouble.”
“While he was here? You mean he ain’t here no more?”
“Afraid not.”
“What happened to him? Did he go off to fight in the war?”
“No, he didn’t go off with the regiment. Him and some other fellas who didn’t go are takin’ a herd of cows up to Dakota.”
By now, both Chance and Percy had joined their older brother, and when they heard Thornton say that Faglier was taking a herd to Dakota they looked at each other is surprise.
“Now what would he do a dumb-fool thing like that for?” Angus asked. He could barely conceal the frustration he felt at having almost found Faglier, only to miss him by a couple of weeks.
“Well, sir, that’s the same question lots of us have been askin’,” Thornton replied. “But when you look at it close, you see that it ain’t such a dumb-fool thing after all. That is, if they can do it. They’re takin’ a herd of over three thousand cows up to Dakota to sell ’em to the gold miners. They figure to get fifty dollars a head for them cows.”
“Gold miners? What gold miners?” Angus asked.
Thornton chuckled. “My, where have you fellas been that you ain’t heard the news. They’ve found gold up in Dakota.”
“Where?”
“According to what I’ve read they found it first at a place called Grassphopper Creek, but I reckon they’re findin’ it all over now. Why, from what I’ve heard, there are picking up nuggets as big as your thumb just clinging to the roots of the grass. Bigger, even, than the California find was, here a few years back.”
“I’ll be damned,” Angus said.
“Will you be boardin’ your horses for long?”
“What?” Angus asked, distractedly.
“Your horses,” Thornton repeated. “How long will you be leaving them with me?”
“Three, four days at least,” Percy said. “Maybe more.”
“Uh, no,” Angus said, overriding Percy’s response. “We’ll be takin’ ’em out first thing in the mornin’.”
“If you’re goin’ to take ’em out in the mornin’, that’ll be twenty-five cents apiece, in advance. If you leave ’em past noon tomorrow, it’ll cost you another twenty-five cents.”
“All right,” Angus said. He gave Thornton the money, then started out of the livery. Percy and Chance watched him for a moment, then put their own quarters in Thornton’s outstretched hand before they hurried after him.
“What are we going to do now?” Percy asked as he and Chance caught up with Angus.
“Right now, I aim to get me a little supper, and maybe somethin’ to drink,” Angus said.
“I mean, in the morning,” Percy said. “I thought we was goin’ to rest here for a few days.”
“That was before we heard about Faglier,” Angus replied.
“Listen, Angus, it ain’t goin’ to do none of us any good if we go out after him right away. We been ridin’ hard for a long time, we need a little rest,” Chance said. “Besides, if he’s trailing a herd all the way up to Dakota, he ain’t goin’ nowhere. We can catch up with him anytime we want.”
“Wait a minute,” Percy said. He smiled. “Wait a minute, I know what you’re doin’. I’ll be damned. You’re aimin’ to steal them cows, aren’t you?”
“No,” Angus replied.
“What? Why not? Didn’t you hear what that liveryman said? Them cows will be bringing fifty dollars a head up in Dakota. Why wouldn’t we steal ’em?”
“Yeah,” Chance said. “I’m with Percy on this, Angus. I mean, why, who knows how much money them cows would make?”
“ ’Bout a hunnert and fifty thousand dollars,” Angus said easily.
“A hunnert and fifty thousand dollars?” Percy gasped. “Lord, I didn’t know there was that much money in the whole world.”
“Wait a minute You’re sayin’ them cows is worth a hunnert and fifty thousand dollars, but we ain’t goin’ to steal them?”
“That’s what I’m sayin’.”
“Damn, Angus, what’s got into you? You used to be the one with all the ideas,” Chance said.
Just as they reached the front of the saloon, Angus turned to his two brothers. “You want to herd those cows
